A word from the Principal

I can't believe that next week will be the end of Term 2 and we will be half way through 2023.  The weeks are full again with not only teaching and learning, but so many wonderful opportunities for our students across a variety of areas.  It is hard to keep up with it all sometimes but it is so wonderful to see students thriving in all of these opportunities. My Principal page could go for days if I mentioned everything so hopefully people are keeping up to date through Compass, social media and the class newsfeeds!

Community Connections

Our Year 4 students have been so excited this week to walk down to Murrindal Kindergarten and read stories to the young children.  This is an opportunity for them to show their leadership in the lead up to entering the senior school, as well as forming relationships with students who may be their future buddies at Karoo in 2024. 

Parent Education Partnership Series - Raising Children in a Digital World

It was so fantastic to see our learning centre full of parents listening to Marty and Carley (INFORM & EMPOWER) share some incredibly insightful knowledge about how we can keep our children safe online.  We were able to record the evening and I strongly recommend that you carve some time aside to sit and watch the recording.  The parent sessions add to the termly incursion that students participate in as learning about being safe online is not a once off event.  

Save the Date - Friday 28th July  - Coin Challenge 

Start saving those coins....its the annual Coin Challenge on Friday 28th July.  The class that makes the L O N G E S T line will win a class prize of a Pizza lunch! 

Born to Soar https://borntosoar.com.au/ 

A number of students have thrived this term participating in a Gifted program that operates at Karoo on a Thursday (Yr 3-6) and currently Box Hill on Wed (F-2) - hoping to move this to Karoo in the future.  This is an opportunity that we want to continue to offer families and enrolments open each term.  If you would like more information, please contact Angus at Born to Soar on 0477 036 807 or come and speak to me for more information. 

Working Bee

Despite the wet start to the day, a band of hardy volunteers attended Saturday’s working bee to assist with the sand refilling and gardening tasks. Thank you to the parents and students who attended on Saturday as they did a wonderful job moving sand into the Foundation sandpit and long jump areas, as well as pressure hosing, mulching and weeding. Their hard work ensured that the grounds looked neat and tidy for the tour that afternoon and the days  / weeks following. 

Flu Season

As the colder months hit, we are beginning to experience a significant amount of illness within our community. Many students and members of staff, have been absent recently. Where possible, we are employing CRTs when we are able to. Please be aware your child’s class may be split if we are unable to find a replacement teacher, however, as all our staff plan and work collaboratively, student learning should not be impacted. We appreciate your patience if we take a little longer to respond to emails and attend meetings at this time. The school office has boxes of COVID tests to hand out if you require them. Please also remember to log onto Compass and add an attendance note if your child is absent from school. The Department of Education requires all student absences to be approved by parents and carers. 

Student Reports Semester 1

At the end of Term 2 your child's semester report will be available on Compass.  Staff have been busily collecting and analysing multiple sources of data to determine exactly where your child sits along the Victorian Curriculum continuum across the various learning areas. Parent Teacher Interviews will be at the beginning of Term 3 and are available to book in via Compass now.   Due to the positive feedback we received from the beginning of the year, and to cater for all families, we will conduct the interviews on Tuesday online and Wednesday onsite. These meetings will be to discuss the progress from Semester one's report and what is to be a focus for your child throughout Semester two. 

Before School & After School Supervision

Please remember that student supervision by staff in the yard does not start until 8.45am. Even though the gates are open, students are not formally supervised. This also applies to after school where students are only supervised until 3.45pm.

If students are in the yard before 8.45am or after 3.45pm without parent/family supervision they should be attending our OSHC program.

We will be monitoring student arrivals and departures and may discuss supervision options with you in the coming weeks, where required.

I hope that you are all looking forward to a well earned holiday break at the end of next week and are possibly heading into some sunshine.  A reminder that students will be dismissed at 2:30pm on the last day of term (Friday 24th June).   

Ms Kuusela will commence her maternity leave in Week 1 of Term 3 so please ensure you wish her well if you see her in the yard.  We will certainly miss her at Karoo but wish her all the best as she embarks on an exciting and rewarding new adventure!  We welcome Mrs Middlemiss in her absence until she returns during 2024. 

Have a wonderful week and a restful holiday break, 

Danielle Heatley

Principal